Tag: shawl

Well it took a month to knit, two weeks to finally block, and four days to dry. She’s done and she is glorious.

This is Void, a beautiful pattern by Melanie Berg. The pattern is very well written and I can see how so many people enjoyed knitting it. I did follow her note in the pattern to do an extra yarnover after the first stitch of every row, but after the first repeat or so, I started doing a double yarnover. I’m really glad I did. It was tough to get the edge completely straight but I think the extra stretchy cast on edge helped a lot.

I also followed the advice of some other folks who knit the pattern and modified the left leaning twist or cable a bit to make it more even. Details of that modificiation are up on my Ravelry project page. This is number 7 of my make 9 for 2018.

I used madelinetosh Longrider DK in the Scout colorway. The patern is written for worsted weight yarn, but the Longrider DK is a pretty plump yarn to me. I think this base is discontinued. I used more yardage than the pattern calls for, I think. The odd thing about this yarn is that there is no weight listed on the ball band. It says 250 yards, but that’s it. A little frustrating, but I’ll overlook it in light of the gorgeous color that is Scout.

This is the lovliest tonal, dusty, dirty, mauvy pink that I’ve seen. Absolute heaven. I cannot wait to bundle up in it this winter! Speaking of bundling up, it’s a heck of a lot of shawl to wrap around yourself. It turned out to be about 8 feet long.

All told, I’m rather pleased over this one. The color and the texture just sing. I love when knitting turns out so lovely.

I’ve sat down to write this post a dozen times over the last few days. I’m feeling a bit scatterbrained with my making and can’t really seem to synthesize all that’s happening into anything coherent. Let’s come at this from a different angle. The current state of affairs, in pictures:

Since I’ve been home from our spring break trip, I’ve been itching for my favorite parts of spring and summer. Fresh veggies, farmer’s markets, canning… you get the gist. All the way home, I expected it to be time to get planting and time to hit up the farmer’s markets. Maryland is hot, right? Surely the produce stand would be teeming with plants ready to come home with me.

Of course, none of this was the case. It is chilly and early spring-y, the last frost is still a week away, and our county farmer’s markets don’t start till May. After this news, I spent a bit of time planning out my prosective container garden but it would seem that there are only so many ways one can make lists of plants. And so, I finished up the last ten rows and bound off my Half Moon Oracle shawl.

Ugh, it’s so pretty. The shawl is blocking now, and I can’t wait to wear it.

With that done, I still had some time on my hands this week. To occupy myself, I thought I’d clean up the kitchen to get ready for the canning. I started and had a difficult time stopping. I won’t bore you with all the details but even the freezer got cleaned out. I reorganized my canning accoutremont and have some pretty cabinets and clean jars all ready to go.

With all of that finished, I still felt like preserving something. Anything. And so I turned to sauerkraut. A quick pick up of some cabbage and I was ready to go. My favorite kraut from last year was a recipe from Ferment Your Vegetables, Ava’s Hot Pink Kraut.

I shredded my cabbage and salted it, and started working it.

After some elbow grease, time, and more elbow grease, it was ready to start packing.

To pack the would-be kraut into the jar, you need to really tamp it down. As you’re going along it kind of looks like there is no way it will all fit. To help get the job done, I use a “Pickle Packer” and I love it. It really makes the job easier.

Once all the cabbage was in, I added the weight:

And finally, the airlock.

And now, we wait. That seems to be my destiny around here. Wait for warmer weather, wait for the shawl, wait for the kraut. At least I have a sock to knit.

I’m not generally a strictly monogamous knitter but I also tend to not have oodles of projects on the needles, either. I tend to have a few projects and some socks at all times. This evening, I find myself with one and only one work-in-progress.

This solitude comes after a weekend of furious sock knitting. I’ve gotten into a lovely habit of getting up before anyone else and enjoying my morning coffee by the big window in our living room:

This is becoming my favorite spot in the house. I worked like a mad woman on that sock and, even with getting all my errands done, finished it by lunch on Saturday.

The yarn is Rainbows after Rain by Knitterly Things and was the March 2017 rainbow club colorway. For some reason, I knit these with a Fish Lips Kiss heel–something I haven’t done in ages. I like the heel itself, but for stripey socks I think I prefer the look of an afterthought heel.

After these were done, I put a little work into my Half Moon Oracle, and that was my Sunday morning knit:

I’m really enjoying this knit. The yarn, the textures, the color–it’s all lovely.

I’ve now finished the sixth section and am ready to increase to–gulp!–582 stitches. That will be the last section and the border and then we’ll be binding off. I needed a break from the long rows last night though, so I broke out my New Year’s socks. These guys haven’t seen much love, but I put some time into them last night and then finished them up this morning in the very wee hours.

This was pre-6 a.m. and I’m pretty proud of myself. I’ve been trying to commit to getting up when I wake up and taking advantage of that extra little bit of morning time. Today, that paid off!

This is Bubbly by Nomadic Yarns. The base is her Brit Sock – a lovely and plump BFL/nylon blend. I got distracted by other fancies and they took almost three months to finish, but they are so pretty.

With this finish, I only have the shawl on the needles. It’s a very strange feeling, only one project going. I really want to finish the shawl and have a fresh, new start to some projects. I’ve got my Madewell sweater swatched for and ready to cast on, plus some needle ajacent socks.

For now, Cosi and I are just going to snuggle up and knit the next loooong row.

It’s been quite a while since we had a proper WIP roundup. I don’t really have very much on the needles at them moment, which is a miracle in and of itself. I’m feeling a bit lazy this fine Sunday afternoon, so let’s just look at some pretty WIPs.

First up, my New Year’s Eve Socks:

Bubbly, Nomadic Yarns

I have no motivation to finish these. I love them and the yarn, but I am constantly distracted by my other stripey socks. This is the latest rainbow iteration:

Rainbows after Rain, Knitterly Things

My sock mojo is actually pretty low at the moment. I want to cast on all the sweaters and shawls and other big projects. I’ve gotten started by doing a little swatching for my next big cast on, Sunset Highway:

Half Naked, Baerenwolle

I went up a needle size and am a quarter stitch off per inch. I think I’m just going to go down a pattern size and go with it. While the swatch dried I picked back up a languising WIP. My Half Moon Oracle, which, holy smokes, I am in love! I’m kind of feeling like putting a lot of work into this beauty:

Princess Bride, Marilyn, Tropical Vintage, Swift Yarns

I really want to finish everything and cast on all new things tomorrow. Or maybe just cast on new things tomorrow. I did have a finish yesterday, it’s blocking now…

I think I’ll make a cup of coffee and at least finish the brioche section on the Oracle. That will give me some time to figure out what to knit next.

I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure what color mauve is. Pink? Purple? Grey? Taupe? The answer to all those questions seems to be yes. Whatever color it is, I am into it.

I think–I hope–it’s a good color for me. In my wardrobe architect project I selected blush and peach and coral and hot pink, but I believe we’re going to need to officially add mauve to the mix. Mauve seems the embodiment of feminine and cozy. I am full steam ahead into some delightfully mauve-y goodness.

The first order of business is my Coastal Walk. It’s all finished and lovely.

It was a fairly quick knit. I puttered about on it here and there, working up the lace section. The garter border, which comprises about half of the shawl, only took me about a day of knitting to finish. The pattern is Coastal Walk, by Joji Locatelli. As usual, her patterns are impeccably written, easy to follow, and a joy to work up. My only modification was to stop after 3 full garter rows at the end of the border. I was afraid of running out of yarn, but I probably could have gotten another row or two done.

Regardless, I am incredibly pleased. As I’ve mentioned, this is a great knit. The lace is easy to knit but beautiful and the texture of a DK weight shawl is unbeatable. The yarn is listed as a sport weight, but I feel like it’s closer to a light DK. This is Traipse Sport from Tuskenknits–I don’t believe she carries the base anymore. The colorway is Belle Starr and is utterly perfect. The subtle tonality, the soft and sweet speckles–gorgeous.

Coastal Walk

After I finished this shawl and my socks and cast on the next pair of socks, I needed something else. Something new and exciting and fun. Something that won’t take forever since I have two trips coming in the next month. Something like a cowl.

Enter the Eureka Cowl, a pattern by Jessica Gore. I saw this cowl knit up on Inside Number 23 and just knew that I would need to cast it on as soon as possible. I managed to snag a bit of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter off of Ravelry destash, this is the Postcard colorway. I had a lot of motivation to knit this cowl in this yarn. Firstly, it’s beautiful. The yarn and pattern combination are just stellar. Second, I wanted to try out Shelter with a low investment project. I’m eyeing several quite large projects with this yarn which will be a big commitment in the yarn budget. I wanted to make sure I love the yarn before I go down that path. The good news is, I do love it so far. It’s positively gorgeous.

By the way, Coastal Walk and the Eureka Cowl are two of my Make Nine projects for the year. It feels good to really be moving on my goals.

In other mauve news… it’s leaking into my ready to wear wardrobe too.

#workselfie

I’ve got a mauve sweater planned for this year as well, but it will probably be a bit before I start that. I’m dying to cast on the Sunset Highway. At this point, I think I’ll live through it’s lack of mauve.

Today, I hop on a plane for Los Angeles. I’m heading to a conference my organization puts on and it’s one of the biggest weeks of the year for us. I’ve been preparing for this since sometime in July and I think I’m ready. I hope I’m ready, it’s certainly too late now.

In my crafting life, trip preparations haven’t been going on nearly so long. I did attempt to make myself a new notions pouch for the trip. I’m not sure what comes over me before a work trip, but this isn’t the first pre-trip bag I’ve worked on. I’ve made a project bag and a notions pouch on the eve (or day of) other flights! Life kept happening this week though, and I didn’t quite get it done.

I’m taking three projects for this trip. Socks, for the airplane, of course. On a long flight, I like something compact so that my elbows aren’t flapping around everywhere. I went ahead and cast on the first pair of socks. I always like to get the next sock’s ribbing done as soon as possible after I finish a sock, it helps me stay motivated. Though I rarely have a problem with second sock syndrome, I like to keep the sock train moving.

This is Boombox, on Twist Sock by Hedgehog Fibres. I picked this one out of my light box o’ sox, since it felt appropriately Los Angeles colored to me. I meant to just cast on the ribbing, but we played DND last night and I just couldn’t put them down.

Since I have 11 hours of flight time, not to mention airport time, cab time, waiting time, etc… I’m bringing the next pair of socks to cast on too, just in case. This is the March colorway in my Knitterly Things 2017 Rainbow Club, the colorway is called Rainbows After Rain. I can’t wait to get to that pink stripe!

For a little flavor, and so that I hopefully won’t run out of knitting, I’m bringing along my Coastal Walk, too. I am just obsessed with knitting it, the lace was so intuitive and pretty! I’m with the body of the shawl and ready to move on to the border, so in my mind it’s practically finished.

For tradition’s sake–and definitely not because I love seeing all my bags set out–here’s all the knitting I’m packing for the trip. Fingers crossed for at least one FO out of the lot.

With that, I’m ready to head out to the airport. I feel prepared, work-wise and with my making, so let’s get to it! I hope your Saturday is lovely, I’ll just be knitting my way across the country.